A Smile from a Veil
by Gruaigrua
Summary: A journalist's interest in Rose causes problems for The Doctor.
1. Prologue

25 December 2006 - Christmas Day.

"David… Dave come on down from here, please." Claire Bailey held tightly to her boyfriend's hand as he stared blankly ahead. David Vaughan was one step away from a 200 foot drop to a certain death. Claire took no comfort from the fact that there were several other people around her trying to coax their loved ones back from the brink. Minutes earlier, David was boasting about the features on the DVD recorder she had given him as a Christmas present. "David." She vigorously stroked his cheek, trying to snap him out of it. "Please honey, just step back."


	2. Chapter 1

Present Day, 2007.

"I should have brought a camera." Rose Tyler giggled, remembering details of the trip The Doctor had just taken her on.

"I don't think the staff of _Boots _would quite understand what was wrong with the pictures." The Doctor replied. "Besides, you could have taken pictures with your new camera phone."

"Forgot to bring the charger. Hasn't worked in 2 days." She shrugged.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Give us a look…"

Rose removed the phone from her back pocket and handed it over. "Are you going to zap it with the Sonic Screwdriver?"

"Sonic screwdriver?" He tutted. "Don't make me roll my eyes again. I don't like it. Makes me all dizzy. No, I'm going to plug it in and charge it up for you." He disappeared under the console for a moment, returning with a wire connection for the phone. "See!"

Rose leant against one of the rails that surrounded the console. "I can't believe we finally got to Barcelona, _The Planet_ I don't think I'll ever be able to tell that joke with a straight face again!"

"I know. Nice to give the old girl a break too." The Doctor smiled patting the TARDIS console. "The last trip took quite a lot out of her." Rose dropped her head and immediately, the Doctor knew he'd said something wrong. Mickey. Barcelona had been a pleasant diversion from the reality that Mickey wasn't coming back. "Sorry. That was thoughtless…"

"S'alright." Rose said quietly, not looking up. Her hair had fallen across her face so he couldn't see her expression. "It's not like he's dead, or anything. I'm sure that he's alive and well and probably much happier than he'd been in i _this_ /i reality for a long time. He has his Gran back and he's saving people from Cybus Industries."

Before The Doctor could reply with something _devastatingly witty_ that he just knew would cheer her up, Rose's phone started beeping. "Message." was all Rose said and she picked it up from the Tardis' main console. As she was reading it, her phone beeped again.

"You're popular." The Doctor said (not _quite_ the devastatingly witty remark he had planned.)

"They're all voicemail messages." Rose looked up at him. "Five missed calls."

"Five?" The Doctor wrinkled his nose in derision. "Jackie must want something."

"Only 2 of them are from Mum." Rose frowned. "I don't recognise the other number." She dialled in for the voicemail messages.

The first one was Jackie "Just checking in." The next 2 were from a David Vaughan. He was a journalist who wanted to talk to Rose about an article he was writing on Harriet Jones (PM... And MP for Flydale North). Then Jackie again confessing that she'd passed Rose's mobile number onto this journalist who'd called around looking for her. "_Very_ good looking. Kind of like a young John Taylor." (Whoever John Taylor was!). The last one was David Vaughan again, wanting to arrange a meeting.

Rose hung the phone up, sighing loudly. "Oh well done, Mum!"

"What's she done now?" The Doctor couldn't help but smile.

"Set a journalist on me!" Rose exclaimed.

The Doctor's smile faded a little. "A journalist? We'll need to be careful."

"Get him and his big head!" Rose rolled her eyes. "He wants to talk to i me /i because I know Harriet Jones, you weren't even mentioned!"

"Are you going to do it?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Why not." Rose shrugged. "I mean, we were all over the news when we were in Downing Street, remember? Ooh, you could come along because you didn't look like that in the pictures! Bloke won't have a clue!" Before The Doctor could discuss it further with her, she was dialling the number David Vaughan had given her.

"Hi. David Vaughan." David introduced himself.

"David, this is Rose Tyler." She said. "You've been looking for me."

David straightened up at his desk and grabbed a pen and paper. "Rose! Great to hear from you. You've obviously listened to the messages, so you know what I'm after."

"See, that's just it." Rose scrunched her nose. "I don't see why you'd be interested in talking to me."

"I'm interviewing people who've had experience of the Prime Minister for an upcoming feature in The Independent." He explained. "Look, the best way to do this would be to talk face to face. I'm not big on phones."

"I don't know…" Rose started.

"I'll be in Starbucks in Greenwich tomorrow morning at 11.00." David wasn't giving her a chance to turn him down over the phone. "All the coffee and muffins you could ask for on an expense account.

…

The Doctor was already in situ at a table, surrounded by several parts of The Guardian newspaper, a large coffee and an equally large blueberry muffin when Rose came into the coffee shop. The man at the next table stood to greet her. He was around the same height as the Doctor, but a bigger build. Sandy blond hair, blue eyes, square chin… not exactly beaten with the_ugly stick_ Rose thought.

"Hi. I'm David." He shook her hand. "Nice to finally meet you."

_Friendly smile, good grip_ . Rose thought. "Nice to meet you too." She grinned nervously.

"Can I get you anything?" David asked as they sat down.

"Coffee would be nice." Rose said.

He gestured to the waitress. "Can we get a large pot of coffee please?" Again with a warm smile.

The Doctor peered out from behind the sports section. This guy was good. Completely charming and disarming (and other _ming_ words that would probably come to mind over the course of the interview!). He'll have Rose eating out of his hand.

As they were waiting for the coffee, David took out a minidisk recorder. "I'm switching this on now so we don't miss anything from the start. I'm recording it so we both have a full record of what's being said... and my shorthand is fairly atrocious!"

"They still make you do shorthand?" Rose laughed.

"Oh the whole secretarial thing, unfortunately! Shorthand, typing, Dictaphone..." David rolled his eyes. "A wise man once said to me, learn to type and learn to juggle. That way you'll never be short of a job."

The waitress returned with their coffee. "Okay, we're ready... So tell me, Rose Tyler, all about you."

"Um... I thought this interview was about Harriet Jones." Rose frowned.

"She's the cornerstone of it." David explained. "But what I want is a background to the people who've had dealings with her during her rise to power. You were in Downing Street during the Alien Crisis a couple of years back and…

"And you want to know how the hell I managed that?" Rose's internal alarm was ringing.

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that." David still had that disarming smile. "You signed into Downing Street and you gave your occupation as "_assistant_" to some expert on something or other. Right?" David shrugged. "But if I wanted to know about the experts, I'd have gone to the experts. But they're just boring know-it-alls who are absolutely no fun to talk to. What I'm interested in are the ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations. And I'd say being trapped in Downing Street during an alien invasion counts as extraordinary, wouldn't you?"

"Oh, it's a typical Tuesday for me!" Rose smiled.

"So tell me what happens on a typical Monday..."

The Doctor munched away on his muffin, while listening intently to Rose giving details of her not exactly fascinating early life.

"... Shortly after your job blew up, you were the subject of a year long _Missing Persons_ hunt."

"I had an opportunity to travel, assisting my expert and I took it. It was wrong of me not to stay in touch, but I had my reasons." Rose said quietly. _Reason being a miscalculation by the TARDIS, but you don't need to know that_

"I get that. The pressure to be someone you're not." David nodded, aware of her reluctance to talk. But he was a journalist and getting people to open up was his forte. "I dropped out of med school after the first year, despite much consternation from my parents. They weren't a bit happy that I switched to journalism... Especially my Mum. She can be quite formidable when she wants."

"Must be a _Mum_ thing, really." Rose sighed, knowing exactly what he meant. "Still, if they weren't worried about ya, then there'd _really_ be something wrong. Bless 'em!"

"So, you were just back after your year away when you went to Number 10." David steered the conversation back on track. "That must have been impressive."

The Doctor ordered a top-up coffee, extremely impressed with the line of questioning and the methods. Offering up a personal anecdote to empathise with the interviewee, softening them up for the _Big Question_ which was surely just around the corner.

"Of course it was." Rose exclaimed. "I mean who wouldn't be impressed with Number 10. And meeting Harriet - I mean, the Prime Minister – she was cool. Thrown into a difficult situation and she took charge. She made the decision to launch the missile that destroyed the place. We were sealed in a bomb-proof room."

"That was the start of her rise to power." David explained. "And it wasn't because the Cabinet was decimated. It was because of the stories that emerged about her. The way she organised people and got things back up and running…"

"She left that bomb shelter and started giving people orders like she owned the place!" Rose beamed proudly, remembering their emergence from the rubble and Harriet, completely unphased, took control.

David talked with Rose for another hour about her and Harriet. The "Big Question" the Doctor was anticipating never materialised. Maybe he _was_ being a bit self absorbed. He was definitely over caffeineated after a further 2 large mugs and a toffee apple muffin.

David put the minidisk into the pocket of his jacket. "And we're done." He gestured again to the waitress to settle up the bill. She handed him the slip of paper. "And I'll take the bill for your friend at the next table too." He smiled at Rose. Her face dropped, and The Doctor nearly choked on his muffin.

"I beg your pardon?" Rose frowned.

"Your friend who has been keeping an eye on us. It's the least I can do, under the circumstances." David turned around to face the Doctor. He raised his coffee mug like like he was calling a toast. "Hello, _Doctor_."

"Told you so!" The Doctor sighed to Rose. He picked up his mug and muffin and moved over beside her.

"As usual, Doctor, it's all about you." Rose rolled her eyes. "Even when it's all about me, it's all about you!"

The Doctor cut to the chase. "So what do you want?"

"Six words." David said, looking the Doctor in the eye. "_Don't you think she looks tired_ ? Those six little words caused a lot of trouble the for PM. So, in order to quell the rising tide of questions about her health, she went for a full check up."

"What happened?" Rose asked quietly. "Is she okay."

"Yeah." David smiled. "She's fine. If she hadn't gone when she did, precancerous cells in her cervix would have gone undiagnosed and could have caused serious problems down the line. We managed to keep it quiet."

"We?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

David smiled. "Harriet Jones is my Mother."


	3. Chapter 2

The Doctor, Rose, and David Vaughan, son of Harriet Jones PM, sat around a table in Starbucks in Greenwich.

"I have so many questions I want to ask you," David broke the silence. "But I don't think this is the ideal place to do it."

Rose looked at the Doctor, his face was inscrutible, giving nothing away. She frowned. "I don't know…"

"Look, if this was about finding you and "capturing" you because you upset my Mum." David did the "air quotes" thing. "Don't you think there would be a shedload of army blokes surrounding the place? I just want to talk, that's all. If you don't, fine." He shrugged. "You can just walk away. Coffee's been paid for, I have the interview for my article…"

"So you weren't making that up?" Rose asked.

"Everything I've told you is the truth." David said.

"Just a slightly edited version, though." The Doctor finally spoke up.

"So, you're telling me that if I'd asked to interview you both that you wouldn't have tripped merrily into the nearest parallel universe to avoid it?"

"You can't travel between parallel universes." Rose said matter of factly.

"Oh. I'll have to remember that." David smiled. "And you'll have to tell me why you know that."

"Okay." The Doctor said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Rose looked at him.

"What?" David repeated.

"Okay." The Doctor smiled. "What do you want to know?"

…

It was a short drive from Greenwich to David's dockland apartment. Privacy so they could speak freely, but not so secluded that it would scare them off. The apartment was bright, but cluttered. A large bookshelf covered one wall. Rose examined some of the titles. A curious mix of medical books, music reference books, biographies, assorted scifi and thrillers… definitely the product of more than one person. The Doctor was looking at an array of framed photographs on top of a sideboard. The largest one was an informal family portrait and sure enough, there was a younger looking David with Harriet Jones and 2 other people that looked like his dad and a sister. A dark haired woman featured prominently in other pictures. A wife or girlfriend, probably.

"That's Claire, my girlfriend." David answered the unasked question. "She's a Doctor… a surgeon, actually." The pride in his voice was obvious.

"Where does she work?" The Doctor asked.

"The Edenwood Clinic. It's a private facility a few miles from here. It's not exactly frontline NHS stuff." David explained. "She does surgery on rich people, basically. But she also gets to do a lot of research. I'm convinced she'll have a Nobel prize in the next 5 years because she's going to make some magnificent breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

"Did you meet in medical school?" Rose asked.

"We were friends in first year. We didn't get together until about 3 years ago." David explained. "But enough about me! We're here to talk about you."

The Doctor started off small, explaining the TARDIS, how he could travel in space and time. He gleefully recounted stories of aliens and monsters and derring do. The Doctor threw himself in full tilt, even going so far as to explain that he can regenerate. Rose had heard some of the stories before... even been involved in a few of them, but she was as riveted as David to hear some more.

"...So you saved the world?" David smiled incredulously.

"With alarming regularity, but I don't like to boast." The Doctor shrugged.

"Yes he does!" Rose contradicted.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" The Doctor grinned. "I love to boast. Here I go! Boasting about boasting!"

Even though David was recording the interview he constantly took notes. Further questions to ask, some of the unfamiliar words the Doctor had used and a few random observations. Being an expert at upsidedown reading, the Doctor noticed a phrase David had used "_Two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl year after year_." A lyric from the chorus of Pink Floyds _"Wish You Were Here"_

"Lost souls?" The Doctor asked, somewhat deflated, hoping David would explain the remark.

David put the notepad face down on the table. "Well... you've just told me you're over 900 years old, that you've gone through several incarnations because you've died... I'm not 30 yet and I've broken my wrist and my heart, seen the Grand Canyon and buried people that I love." David looked intently at the Doctor. "You know me a couple of hours and know that I have a family and a girlfriend. All I seem to be getting from you is surface. Don't get me wrong, it's all fantastically entertaining in a _Dan Dare/Han Solo_ kind of way and if I breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll probably be locked in a rubber room for the rest of my life, but I think it's all a mask and you're hiding. Do you have a family of your own? A partner? Children? You don't go through that many lifetimes without love, loss, grief, pain... You even laughed off the regeneration thing. _Oh, I died and then I came back to life looking different. _Nothing about how much it hurt, the sensation of it, the fear the first time you went through it, the uncertainty..." David shook his head. "Without that it just sounds like a well told fairytale. Only for what my Mum told me, I'd have taken all you've said as an imaginative work of fiction. Life has to be more than a series of jolly japes. Without the humanity..."

"I'm not human." The Doctor interrupted, a frosty tone to his voice.

"Now you're just arguing semantics." David was getting frustrated. "You could probably tell stories non stop for the next week, but it would still tell me nothing about the Man."

"Hey. Leave him alone." Rose stepped into the fray. Her voice was calm and even. "He doesn't have to tell you anything he doesn't want to. That's not how it works. Why should he open up to you? Pour out his hearts - yeah, two of 'em - to a total stranger. He sort of knows your Mum. Doesn't have a clue about you." She placed a hand on the Doctor's arm. "I've been with him a while now. We've been through a lot, him and me. But, some of the things he told you today, I'd never heard before. Just cos you're a journalist, doesn't give you a divine right to know everything, simply because you throw a tape recorder under his nose and start asking questions."

"So how did you know you could trust this stranger who keeps so many things from you?" David asked.

Rose smiled. "_Do you think you can tell a smile from a veil_?" She was paraphrasing more lyrics from Wish You Were Here "With him, I can." Both men looked at her. "What? Just cos I'm young doesn't mean my musical knowledge begins and ends with Take That – Robbie's my favourite, by the way. You can put that in my article! " she sniffed, indignantly. "Ask him how _he_ knew he could trust _me_? Sometimes you don't need to know _why_ you know."

The Doctor blinked rapidly and looked at Rose. "That... That was deep."

"Oh shut up!" and she backhanded him across the arm.

The tension was broken and David took this as his chance to get the interview back on track. He looked at his notes. He had the word _Christmas_ circled. "Tell me about how you got onto the Sycorax ship?"

"We kind of got beamed up." Rose said. "I came out and your mum was there telling everyone that she was in charge."

"How much did she tell you?" The Doctor asked, surprised at David being able to name the alien invaders.

"She went into great detail, actually." David replied. "She thought we had the right to know why we ended up on the rooftops."

"Oh no." The Doctor said quietly.

David nodded. "While that whole crisis was going on, her husband and two children were in an alien's thrall."

"I had no idea." Now the Doctor understood why Harriet set the weapon on the Sycorax. He still didn't agree with what she'd done, but what parent wouldn't move Heaven and Earth, do the unthinkable to protect their child?

"And that's why I wanted to talk to you both." David said. "You've saved my Mum's life… That puts you on the Christmas card list! I should take you out and buy you a pint! But in the meantime, please continue…"

They talked for hours, completely losing track of time and stopping only when the door to the apartment opened. "That would be Claire. She doesn't know as much about what happened at Christmas as I do. It was easier not to go into too much detail."

"We should go." The Doctor said as both he and Rose stood up.

David shook their hands. "Thank you. This has all been very enlightening."

Claire came into the living room as they were about to leave. "Hi?" She said, a little surprised to see David at home. The Doctor and Rose passed her smiling, but saying nothing.

"I'll be back in a bit, okay?" David said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Okay. Who are they." Claire asked.

"They were just helping me with some research." He shrugged. "See you later."

David drove Rose and The Doctor back to the Powell Estate. As they were getting out of David's car, the Doctor wrote his mobile phone number on a scrap of paper. "If you want talk some more." The Doctor said. "And say hello to your Mum for me."


	4. Chapter 3

David Vaughan drove off, leaving The Doctor and Rose Tyler standing at the entrance to the Powell Estate. They strolled across the main square.

"Does it bother you?" The Doctor asked.

"Does what bother me?" Rose answered.

"That there's a lot about me that you don't know."

She shrugged. "Sometimes. But you've told me that you're the only one left. I'm sure the last thing you need is to have to give me a family history… It was nice to hear the stories, though."

"Yeah?" The Doctor brightened. "It was fun, wasn't it. I don't get to tell many people what I do. Either I'll get locked up as a nutjob, or they'll tell the wrong person and _they'll _get locked up as a nutjob."

"I better watch myself, then!" Rose laughed.

He smiled wistfully. "It was nice, you know. Just to be able to talk."

…

"Dave, I left my iPod in work can I use your minidisk instead?" Claire called through the bathroom door. "Dave? _David_?" She sighed and gave up. It was her boyfriend's regular ritual! David was under a warm stream of water, behind a glass panel with the radio playing loudly and her sopping wet boyfriend was singing along... badly! Claire could have been beating the door down with a hammer and he _might_ have heard something... Maybe! "Fine. Keep singing to Kylie, Dave. I won't tell anyone your dirty little secret if you let me borrow your minidisk."

"Huh?" He yelled back, turning down the music.

"Minidisk." she enunciated each word clearly. "Can I borrow it?"

"Fine. Just change the disk first." He replied. "Now begone! Kylie needs me."

David's minidisk player was on his locker beside the bed. He had resisted Claire's attempts to lure him to the "dark side" and get an iPod because it was easier to record interviews on the older technology. New didn't always mean better! David had stockpiled disks of interviews and albums over the last few years and being the anally retentive completist that he was, they were all labelled accordingly. She put one of the earphones in her ear expecting to hear a bootleg of the gig he was at the night before "What hideous little up and coming noisemeisters did you record last night then?" It took moments to realise that it wasn't a gig, but an interview with the couple who were in the apartment earlier... Claire knew she shouldn't be prying , but she couldn't help but be curious. David never interviewed people in the apartment… What made _them_ so special? She listened for a few minutes to the Doctor recount one of his adventures that lead to his death…

"_I had to climb the tower to disconnect the radio telescope – Which, of course, I managed to do! – But I lost my grip and fell… I don't think anything prepares you for that kind of impact... There was no way I would have recovered from the injuries, I knew I was dying." The voice trailed off for a moment. "So I regenerated."_

"_Regenerated?" David's voice cut in._

"_My people have a way of_ /i _bypassing_ i _death. It's called regeneration. When a body fails, either through old age or injury, it can change at the basic cellular level and I become a different person. I retain all my memories, but I look like another person."_

_A woman's voice entered the conversation. "Takes a bit of getting used to."_

"_You're telling me! Try being the person who goes through that!"_

Claire quickly switched it off when she realised David was out of the bathroom.

"Oh Claire. I asked you change the disk." David sighed, taking the player from her.

"Was that the guy you had here earlier?" Claire asked. "What the hell is he going on about? You surely can't be taking him seriously!" David looked like he was on the verge of telling her. "Dave, you've never kept secrets from me before. Please don't start now."

"Christmas day. The bits that aren't a total blank…" David started . "Do you remember when we were watching back what the DVD recorded all day?" she nodded. "Remember the speech where Mum was looking for someone called The Doctor? Well that was him."

"What?" Claire laughed. "That's _ridiculous_!"

"Any more ridiculous than a giant spaceship looming over London? Millions of people – myself included – in a trance on the verge of jumping to our deaths?"

"Dave, I don't need the action replay." Claire snapped. "I was there on the roof too."

"Claire, don't be like that." David hugged her. "I got the answers I was looking for. I got a hell of a lot more besides… He's an alien. An honest to God _Extraterrestrial_!" He was giddy with excitement. "He's got 2 hearts… Imagine that? Two hearts and an ability to regenerate! But you can't tell anyone."

"This regeneration thing? The bit where he tells you he dies and comes back to life?" The scientist in Claire took over. "Did he tell you how he does it? Would he take a few tests? If I could get a blood sample and… "

"No." He said firmly. "That's not why I wanted to find out about him."

"Okay." Claire nodded. "I'll let you get dried off. I'm going online for a while." She kissed him and left the bedroom. On entering the living room, she took David's phone and searched through his address book. Sure enough The Doctor's mobile phone number had been programmed in. Claire sent a text message. '_Need 2 talk more. Pls call to apt 2moro_' and quickly deleted it from the phone's outbox.

Across the city, the Doctor jumped as his phone vibrated. He had been leaning against the counter in Jackie's kitchen. Nobody called him or sent him texts! He checked the message and deduced that it was David contacting him. "That didn't take long." He smiled.

"What?" Rose asked, making a sandwich.

"David Vaughan wants to talk some more tomorrow."

"Oh. Well you'll have to go by yourself." Rose rolled her eyes. "I promised Mum that we'd go visit Gran."

"Yikes! Three generations of Prentiss women." The Doctor pulled a face. "I think I'd rather face a global crisis!"

…

The Doctor arrived at David and Claire's apartment around 11. He was surprised when she answered.

"Hello. I'm here to see David."

"Oh, he had to pop out." Claire feigned innocence. "But you're welcome to wait until he comes back." Claire smiled ushering the Doctor into the living room. "Can I get you something to drink? I'm just brewing a pot of coffee, but if you want tea, or something else…"

"Oooh, a coffee would be great." The Doctor replied.

"Well take a seat." Claire tapped the back of the leather sofa that divided the room. He did as bidden, meaning his back was to the kitchen area. The coffee machine spluttered away, brewing a pot and sending the smell wafting through the room. The Doctor felt the room was particularly warm and after a minute or two, had removed his jacket. Claire returned from the kitchen with a jug and sugar bowl. She moved a book about Salvador Dali out of the way.

"May I?" the Doctor asked, picking up the large hardback book.

"Of course." Claire smiled. " I really love Dali. Some of his stuff is completely bonkers, but then a lot of it is quite accessible too."

"I like his melting clocks." The Doctor grinned, thumbing through the artwork.

"You should visit the Dali Museum in Paris… Actually, the whole area around Montemartre and the Sacre Couer is just gorgeous." Claire said returning to the kitchen for the coffee. The Doctor was too engrossed in the art book to notice her return, not with mugs and coffee, but with a syringe. She stabbed the high pressure injector into the Doctor's neck and depressed it before he could react and stop her.

He scrambled from the couch, clutching his neck where Claire had injected him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"There's enough sedative in that to knock out a man twice your size."

"No… you…" He was losing control of his senses. It was the oddest sensation. In his mind he was panicking rather badly, but physically, he could feel his hearts slow and his muscles relax. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't fight the invading drug. Claire watched impassively as The Doctor tried to make his way to the door. He barely made two steps before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

She stood over him holding the empty syringe. "Now Doctor, let's see exactly what you are…"


	5. Chapter 4

_Cotton wool… I've died again and regenerated into a ball of cotton wool. _The Doctor thought as his senses slowly began to return to him. _No, hang on a mo…_ He tried to concentrate, but with limited success. _Aha, the mole is still there. I'm still me! Yes! This is great! I'm not dead, but I'm beginning to think I'm completely stoned… and that's never a good thing. _The euphoria was short lived, as the _cotton wool _feeling wore off and was replaced with pins and needles in his extremities, and an inability to do anything about it. _The fact that I can wiggle my fingers and toes means I'm not paralysed… but why can't I move?_ The Doctor opened his eyes to see that he was surrounded by white. Just lots and lots of white and a hum... _Hmmmmmm… A. All machines hum in A…_ He tried turning his head to see how far all this white went, but he couldn't do that either. _Oh, that's right… I got drugged and now I'm completely restrained. Well, this could be a problem…_ The Doctor felt stronger by the minute, but not strong enough to loosen the bonds that kept him lying down.

"There's no point in wasting your energy trying to struggle free. " It was Claire's disembodied voice. "It's not going to happen. Those restraints can hold…"

"A man twice my size, I get it." The Doctor snapped. By now he was fully conscious and aware. Claire was taking no chances with the restraints. Not just the wrists and ankles, but The Doctor could feel bindings around his thighs and upper arms too. His head was kept immobilised by a stiff neck brace. The Doctor sighed. "I really need to start working out."

"Good for you. Now just lie still for another minute and the MRI will be finished."

_Medical experiments. _really _need that_ . "Find out anything interesting?"

"Just verifying what you told David." Claire said. "You're an alien with two hearts and regenerative abilities when someone kills you. I thought you were delusional, but David had no reason to lie to me about you… and I had to see all this for myself."

"What?" The Doctor felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "David did this?" Normally he was a good judge of character and David Vaughan came across as a trustworthy person. "I should have known better than to trust a journalist… Doesn't he have the nerve to show himself after the story he spun me?" He angrily tugged at one of his wrist restraints.

"Now, don't go upsetting yourself." Claire pulled the Doctor out of the MRI machine. "You'll skew the readings. Look, if it makes you feel better, David had nothing to do with this. But " She moved into his line of sight. "Right, I'm going to take off the neck brace and make you a little more comfortable."

"The old bedside manner." The Doctor said. "Condescend to the patient, telling them what you're doing as you do it to make them feel more involved." The way she had him trussed up, she could pretty much do what she wanted and all he could do was glare at her.

"You at least deserve that." She said, unclipping the brace and removing it. The Doctor tried his best to shift around to relax the uncomfortable tension the brace had caused his neck and shoulder muscles.

"How kind of you to tell your lab rat what you're doing to it."

"Have I done anything to hurt you?" Claire asked, getting agitated with him.

"Aside from the drugging, kidnapping and probable vivisection?" he said through gritted teeth. "Everything's just peachy."

"Have I caused you any pain?" She snapped. "No! I could have bashed you over the head and cut you up but that's not what I wanted to do."

"Oh spare me the hollow sentiment, Doctor Bailey! You know how this is going to end for me. Don't pretend you care."

…

Rose paced around the TARDIS debating with herself whether or not it was too early to get worried. She tried the Doctor's phone one more time only to have it skip straight to his message minder (that he never checked anyway.). Time to be safe rather than sorry. "Hi David, it's Rose Tyler."

"Hello Rose." David, sitting in his cubicle in work, automatically picked up a pen and notebook.

"This is going to sound like a really stupid question, but is the Doctor with you?"

"Um… No." David said. "Should he be?"

"He told me that you sent him a text message, asking to meet up with you."

"Text message? That's odd." David frowned. "I don't send texts for interviews. If I want to meet someone I'll ring them and arrange a time and place, otherwise there's just too much faffing around."

Rose's heart sank. "This doesn't sound good."

"Where did this text message say to meet?" David was already gathering his things together.

"I don't know." Rose sighed. "He just said he was meeting with you."

"Where are you now?" David grabbed his jacket. "I'll meet you and we'll figure this out."

…

Claire pressed another sensor pad to the Doctor's forehead. She had adjusted the bed the Doctor was tied to in an attempt to make him more comfortable. He was now propped up and she had even put a pillow behind his head. He had a better look at his surroundings. The building must have been empty because the door was wide open. The controls for the MRI were in a small ante room to his right. Claire had laid out trays full of equipment that he didn't like the look of one bit. Scalpels, needles, tubes… absolutely nothing that reassured him. The room was clean and white, just as you'd expect in a state of the art private medical facility. No colour, save for the small black fire extinguisher hung near the exit.

"So what next, Dr Bailey…" the Doctor asked quietly. "A nice facial or aromatherapy massage? How about a pedicure? Or maybe you'll just go for amputating a limb? Will you cut off my hand to see if it will grow back? Stop one of my hearts to see if I'll survive on just the one? "

"I should have kept you sedated." Claire muttered, picking up a syringe from one of the trays.

He didn't fancy being unconscious again and at her mercy. How ever bad his current situation was, there was at least a glimmer of hope if he could keep her talking."Ah, but what about all the false readings? Can't have _false readings_ if you're going to present your research as the saviour of the medical profession."

"That's not what I'm trying to do…"

"Course it is. You think you're going to find the ultimate cure for everything. You'll poke, prod, cut, bleed, scan, dissect, disinfect, dislocate until you think you've gotten what you came for." He turned his head towards her, fixing her with the eye contact she had been avoiding. "None of this will be worth anything because nobody will believe you."

"You're hoping I'll believe that, but I don't." She yanked on restraint on his upper left arm, tightening it considerably. " I think that you could be the answer to a lot of medical problems here, on Earth… God, I don't believe I just said that!" She swabbed his left arm with an antiseptic wipe. "But I'm not doing this for my own glory. I'm doing this for the benefit of the human race." She carefully inserted a cannula into the Doctor's arm. He grimaced as he felt the needle embed itself into the vein. Moments later, crimson fluid flowed from his arm, down a tube into a collection bag.

Claire looked on with great curiosity. "It looks just like real blood."

"It _is_ real blood. It's _my_ real blood." The Doctor squirmed uncomfortably, not enjoying the sensation. "You were expecting blue or green or purple, perhaps?"

"Perhaps." She replied, continuing to watch the bag fill up. "I took pulse and blood pressure readings earlier. Your bp was literally off the scale."

"Afraid I'll stress out and have a stroke on you… Have a heart attack and you won't know which heart to attend to?" His sarcastic tone was starting to grate on Claire's nerves.

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of taking blood from the other arm too." She undid the button on his shirt sleeve and rolled it up past his elbow. "I have a lot of tests to run, a lot of experiments."

"After _this_ experiment?" The Doctor closed his eyes as yet another needle pricked his skin.

Claire pulled hard on the upper arm restraint, ignoring the Doctor's discomfort. It formed another tourniquet, kick-starting the blood flow into the bag. She replaced the original bag from his left arm which had filled its pint.

…

Rose stood on the corner of Clifton Parade waiting for David to collect her. She recognised his car as it sped down the road towards her.

"Get in." David reached across and opened the passenger door for her.

"What's wrong?"

"Claire's missing too." He sighed, shaking his head. "I went to our apartment to collect the car and she was gone. Fresh coffee had been poured for 2 but not drunk." David pulled out onto the road and sped off again.

"Do you think the Doctor was at your place?" Rose gripped the dashboard as he rounded a corner at considerable speed. "Woah, Starsky! _Slow down_. If we crash we aren't going to be much help to anyone."

"Sorry. I'm just worried something terrible has happened to them." He had to stop at the traffic lights, which gave David a chance to explain his theory. "Someone sent a text message to The Doctor to get him around to our place. I always work Saturdays to get the Sunday edition to bed. Claire doesn't. Edenwood is strictly Monday to Friday. Somebody knows our schedules and I reckon it's one of the higher ups at Edenwood."

"So you think they might be _there_?"

"Call it a journalistic hunch." David shrugged. "And anyway, it's a place to start."

"And we're going to walk through the front door and… What?" Rose wasn't a big fan of half arsed plans.

"Actually… I was thinking more of the back door." David pointed to Claire's ID card on the dashboard. "I know the code. Claire gave this to me when she started working late so I could just nip up and collect her, instead of her having to come down to reception and buzz me in. If they ever found out, she'd probably get fired.. but, as they say, what they don't know can't hurt them."


	6. Chapter 5

Blood continued to pump from The Doctor's arms, collecting in the awaiting bloodbags. "Don't I even get a cup of tea and a congratulatory sticker for my donation?"

Claire gritted her teeth. He still had that smug tone, but it didn't sound nearly as cocky as before. He had to make an effort to speak. It wouldn't be long now before she'd see him change. She had taken three full pints and the fourth and fifth bags were filling up.

"I wouldn't be treated like this on the NHS!"

"Oh, _shut up_ or I'll…"

"Kill me?" The Doctor asked. He looked pale and drawn from the rapid blood loss "We both know that's a foregone conclusion." His breathing was becoming more shallow and he was once again fighting to stay conscious. The Doctor would never admit it to Claire, but he was scared.

"You won't die. You'll regenerate… that what you called it." Claire couldn't bring herself to look at him. "You'll come back as a different person."

"What would be the point?" his speech was laboured between shallow breaths. " "I'd still be in the same predicament. Strapped down, being bled dry in the name of science. And you'd probably kill the next incarnation too… for _research purposes_ of course" The strength may have been waning in his voice, but the anger and emotion were rising. "Did it ever occur to you…" The Doctor said quietly, a catch in his voice. "That the number of regenerations is finite?" He had to pause to catch his breath. It was getting difficult to talk. "That if I die – if you _kill_ me – that this is the end for me?... Claire… please stop this. Don't do it. You're a doctor, a_ healer_, not a murderer…Please."

"God, Claire…" It was David standing in the doorway with a look of absolute horror on his face. "What ever happened to _first do no harm_?"

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked

"You weren't answering your phone." David slowly entered the room. "It looked like someone had been in the flat. I was worried about you."

"Well, I'm fine." Claire positioned herself beside the Doctor.

"I'm not." David said trying to keep a calm demeanour "And judging by his complexion, neither is he. What are you doing to him?"

"I needed to see for myself." She said putting one hand on the Doctor's shoulder and picking up a scalpel with the other. "The things he said he can do, David… His physiology, his blood… I could change medical science with it. The regenerative properties he possesses! Imagine what a few drops of his blood could do for a cancer patient or an amputee?" She was pleading with David to understand her. "I'm not doing this for my own glory. This is for the benefit of humanity."

"Wow Claire, Dr Mengele would be proud." He looked at his girlfriend with utter contempt.

She laughed. "I can't believe you're going _Godwin_ on me!"

"You think this is a joke?" David snapped, astonished at her flippancy, given the situation." For pity's sake, Claire! He's a…"

"Human being?" Claire cut him off. "No David, he's not. He's an alien with 2 hearts and an ability to change himself, remember?" She spat his own words back at him "Do you think the government wouldn't have cut him into a million pieces to find out what he is?"

"He's a person, Claire." David retorted. "An intelligent, living, breathing being. He looks no different than you or I and you're treating him like a piece of meat."

"I haven't hurt him." She tried to explain. "I'm keeping the discomfort to a minimum."

The Doctor decided this was one time in his many lives to shut the hell up and stay out of it. The 2 blood bags were now full which stopped any further blood flowing from his body. He felt cold and weak, utterly useless to anyone, even if he weren't so securely tied down.

"So you're practicing _humane_ torture methods? Oh, that makes it alright then, doesn't it!" David scoffed. "My God _who are you_? You couldn't be the woman I love." He was struggling to put into words the disgust he was feeling towards her. "You… you can't be doing this. This is just… This is wrong, Claire. It's so very wrong and deep down, I think you know it too." David stopped to look around. "Is there anyone else here? What if someone else on staff found you doing this?"

"They'd congratulate me for my incredible scientific find and support me in my research." Claire said,

"I better warn you, I'm not here alone." David pointed to the door. "His friend, Rose, won't be so humane when she sees what you've done."

"Rose will do exactly as she's told… Won't you." Claire looked over David's shoulder to see Rose trying to stay out of sight and brought the scalpel to the Doctor's neck.

"I've called the police." Rose said.

"Liar." Claire smiled. "You wouldn't risk anything happening him."

"What? Like letting some psycho hold a blade to his throat?" Rose glared at her with an intensity the Doctor had never seen before. "And before you get to tell the armed response unit that you've captured an alien for the '_benefit of humanity', _they'll just see some poor guy strapped to a table being held hostage by a nutter with a knife and shoot you so full of holes you'll look like a teabag."

Claire blanched at Rose's vivid description, but the scalpel never wavered from the Doctor's neck.

Both David and Rose began to move in on her. "Just put down the blade and get out, Claire. Leave the research, leave the blood and get out before the cops get here." David said, closing in on his girlfriend.

"Listen to him, Claire." The Doctor said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Walk away from this and I promise nothing will happen to you."

"Oh sod all this pussyfooting around!" Rose grabbed the extinguisher from the wall and pulled the safety pin out. She set it off, sending a cloud of Carbon dioxide straight into Claire's face. Claire backed away from the Doctor and David lunged forward, grabbing her wrist. He spun her into him, holding her tight and making sure she couldn't hurt anyone, even herself. Rose swung back the canister, ready to whack Claire across the head, not caring if she knocked her out, or knocked her head off. It was no less than the cow deserved.

"Rose!" The Doctor panted desperately. "Don't do it."

"She was going to kill you!" Rose yelled. "She would have done too."

"Please." The Doctor said quietly. "I just want to get out of here and go home."

David opened the door of the ante room and pushed Claire inside. "You stay in there, while I sort this mess out. I swear, if you try anything, I'll let Rose loose on you." He closed the door, leaving Claire inside pacing like a cat in a cage.

Rose was over with the Doctor unstrapping all the restraints. He smiled drowsily at her. "Thank you." She just nodded, her hands trembling with a combination of fear and anger.

"I'm going to leave one of the cannulas in so we can re-transfuse your blood back in to your body." David said, carefully removing the needle and tubing. He placed a wad of cotton wool over the pinprick and gently bent the Doctor's arm up. The Doctor groaned quietly with pain. His arm had been kept straight and extended for a long period of time and the muscles were stiff.

"How do you feel?" Rose asked. He looked worse than he did at Christmas.

"Pretty terrible, actually." The Doctor managed a feeble smile before turning to David. "First year med student, eh?"

"In a past life." David said, unable to hold eye contact with the Doctor. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have kept the disc more secure." He dug his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the disc. "Take it. It's the only copy, I swear... And I'll take care of the MRI readings too."

"No need." The Doctor said, finally able to reach into his pocket and take out the sonic screwdriver. "This will take care of things." Just a few seconds fiddling with the settings wore him out. He handed to Rose. "Just aimed it at the ante room and press the button". It looked like she was aiming straight at Claire who ducked to the floor on seeing it. It buzzed and glowed causing sparks to fly. "Just a wee overload… A little EMP to wipe any information currently stored."

"Doctor?" Rose placed a warm hand on his cheek. His face was ice cold and clammy. She found a blanket and placed it over him. "We need to get you somewhere safe. Can you get the TARDIS here?" The room looked like it would just about hold the blue box. The Doctor nodded and within seconds, Rose heard the familiar noise of the TARDIS rematerialising. She used her key and opened the door.

"Can you stand?"

Before the Doctor could answer one way or the other, David spoke up. "I wouldn't recommend it. It looks like Claire took a lot of blood, very quickly from him. He's probably in shock, but for the life of me, I don't know how I should treat him other than to re-transfuse the blood back in. He should be in a hospital, but you know…" he pointed back at Claire in the ante room. "Just stay with him, keep him warm, let him sleep…It's not like a concussion where you have to keep waking him up… and when that pint of blood is finished going in, just take the tube out and put the next one in." Rose just nodded, taking it all in. "You should get him inside. If anyone else shows up, there could be real trouble."


	7. Chapter 6

Rose opened the front door with her key and David helped her wheel The Doctor in. It never occurred to David that a stretcher wouldn't fit into a phone box, but then again, there hadn't been a phone box in the room 2 minutes ago. When The Doctor had mentioned a time travelling ship, an antique police phonebox like the one that used to be outside the Earl's Court Tube Station wasn't what he expected! Rose crossed the TARDIS' threshold, pushing the stretcher up the ramp and securing it beside the main console. The TARDIS would know what to do.

She went back down the ramp to close the door, ensuring the Doctor's safety. David was waiting just outside. "Did you really call the police?"

"Are you having a laugh?" Rose exclaimed. "Inform the authorities that there's guy with a binary vascular system about to be cut up… Oh and by the way, he's a time travelling alien? Claire could have sold tickets!"

"I'm so sorry." He repeated. "I never meant for any of this to happen."

"S'alright." Rose shrugged. "It wasn't you, it was your girlfriend."

"Ex-girlfriend." David said succinctly. "She is_ so_ dumped." David tried to laugh it off, but Rose could see he was devastated by Claire's betrayal and her behaviour towards the Doctor.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. He had a blast telling you everything, he really did." Rose smiled. "I think he wishes he could tell everyone what he does… what he's seen. But for everyone like you and me who believe him and think what he's doing is…" she searched for the words. "Just, like, the best thing _ever_! There's people like _her_ who'll try to hurt him, out of fear, or greed, or curiosity." Rose threw a contemptuous look at Claire who looked worried that she would make good on David's threat.

"Claire's lost people." David said quickly. "I know it in _no way_ justifies what she's done, but she's not evil. She lost her Mother to cancer when she was only 10. Her Dad died from it 4 years ago..." he sighed and shook his head, still completely shocked that his girlfriend could have been so callous. "She's been so determined to find a cure. I just never thought she'd resort to something like this." He couldn't bring himself look over at Claire. "I'm not making excuses for her. She made that decision all by herself. She can live with the consequences all by herself too… Anyway, her proof is gone. If she tries to go public, she'll just look like a crank. I'm just so sorry that it came to this."

"We better get going." She was anxious to return to the Doctor and make sure he was okay.

Rose closed the front door and the Blue box faded away right in front of David's eyes. He stared at the spot where the TARDIS had stood with a look of bemusement "the _Best_ thing ever."

The Doctor tried to sit up, but Rose was having none of it. "Stay lying down. If you faint, or fall off that thing, I can't pick you up by myself and that would mean my Mum coming to stay! Now it might be a bit of a bumpy ride, but I'm taking you into the medical bay, okay?"

The Doctor acquiesced under threat of Jackie. "Is it safe?" He asked quietly. He was so unlike himself in this condition.

"You're safe." She took his hand and held it tightly between both of hers. You're home." He silently nodded, as his eyes fluttered shut.

…

His eyes refused to open. It was too bright and there was a hum. _I'm still there. I'm still in the hospital_ . His left arm was smarting from where the needle was still inserted. _Rose didn't make it. She didn't rescue me… A fever dream brought on by chronic blood loss… I'm going to die, I'm going to change and it will all be for nothing... I can't go through that again. Not so soon…_ He struggled through his muddled thoughts trying to make sense of them. _Wait. Rose _was _here. She tried to rescue me… But there was a fight… Oh no… No, no, no. Not Rose…_ Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he shot upright. "Rose? _ROSE_ !" he yelled, frantically looking around him. Brown eyes wide, scared and bewildered.

"I'm here!" Rose scrambled to her feet from the bed beside him. She had briefly fallen asleep after hanging the last blood bag which was still transfusing into his arm. She cupped his face with her hand, relieved to feel some warmth again. "I'm here." She said softly.

Without saying a word, he pulled her towards him and held her in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on to him, happy that his strength was returning. She could feel him trembling and it wasn't cold or weakness, it was fear. "It's okay. You're safe." She repeated "I'm here and I'm not leaving you. Not ever." His head burrowed into her neck and she could feel his shoulders shudder. _Oh God, is he crying? He can't be crying!_ She instinctively stroked his hair. It was something that always soothed her when she got upset as a child. He didn't make much noise, but she could feel the hitches in his breathing.

This was new territory for Rose. Yeah, Shareen had cried on her shoulder several times, but this was different. This was cathartic and she really wasn't used to dealing with that kind of emotional fallout… and certainly not from a guy. Didn't matter, though. She'd hold him tight for as long as he needed her to. Rose knew she could be strong for the Doctor the way he had been strong for her so many times… and Not just _him_ him, but the other him too. All she could do was keep holding him close and reassuring him that he was safe and that he'd be okay.

After a few minutes, the Doctor loosened the bear hug he had on her. "Oh, I'm sorry." He bowed his head, determined to look anywhere but at her. He quickly wiped his tear-stained face.

"S'okay. You've nothing to be sorry for." Rose shrugged. "Tell you what, I'll go get you something to eat… Make soup, or something."

"No." he caught a hold of her hand before she could turn to go. "Don't leave, not just yet… just stay with me." He finally looked at her. His eyes were red and tired. "Please."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rose noticed his reluctance to release his hold on her hand. For a moment, it looked like he wasn't going to say anything. Just shrug it off with another snappy remark, which didn't really surprise Rose. The Doctor had a way of covering up his true feelings. Switching the subject when it threatened to get too personal. He could talk about his amazing adventures all day and listen to other people pour their hearts out for hours, but was an expert at changing the subject when the subject turned out to be him. Then again, he had just cried on her shoulder. You don't get more emotionally open than that.

"I…" The Doctor faltered, like he was struggling to find the right words. "I thought I was dead. I mean, I've died before – you've even seen it happen – but this time, I honestly believed this was the end for me. I knew Claire was going to kill me to force a regeneration. But If I changed, I was still going to be her prisoner. It's not like the restraints were going to magically disappear in the meantime!" He took a deep breath, like he was trying to stop himself breaking down again. "I have the potential to go on forever, if I'm careful." The Doctor rolled his eyes at the word. "But there's also a slight problem, in that I can only regenerate so many times before… well before I'm dead for good. All I could think was that Claire wasn't going to let me live any longer than necessary and that my long, _brilliant_ life was going to end in that horrible, white room." He shivered at the thought of it. "And not even for saving a planet or just another life. It would have been for nothing… Just a pointless waste… And I'm not ready, Rose. I'm not ready to lose all of this… or, or to lose you."

Rose smiled broadly at him. "You couldn't lose me if you tried. Hey, you _did_ try, so you really should know better by now. You could dump me on Raxacoricafallapatorius in the year 5000 and I would still find you." Finally, she got a smile out of him. "The only thing you lost in there was a load of blood… And, oh my God, how disgusting is it that I have to watch it all going back in again." She scrunched her face up.

"Well, I'll make sure I don't get kidnapped by any crazy Doctors who want to bleed me dry to avoid upsetting your delicate sensibilities!" He let go of her hand to pat her gently on the shoulder. Rose took that as her cue to settle him back on the stretcher and replace the blanket that had been kicked off in the panic. While he would have preferred to be in his own room, the Doctor wasn't going to resist. Despite the welcome banter, he still felt physically and emotionally drained, but so relieved to have been allowed the opportunity to get it out of his system.

"When you're taking that needle thing out of your arm, please don't do it in front of me, or I swear, you'll be scraping me off the floor."

"Rose Tyler! You've seen a Time Lord regenerate, a werewolf transform, zombies walking and the inside of a Dalek and you're telling me a little old needle makes you squeamish?"

"Yeah!" She said with great conviction. "Completely squicks me out!"

"Blouse!" The Doctor muttered.

"Oh absolutely!" She retorted. "Complete with frills and a really nice bow!"

Her attempt at humour was met with a huge grin from the Doctor which softened into a warm smile. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"Oh, you know, saving my life." He shrugged.

"Cos you've _never_ done that for me!" She rolled her eyes. "Look, you should get more rest." She put a hand on his shoulder and lightly kissed the top of his head. "I'll go to the kitchen. You go to sleep."

"Blood transfusions and minestrone soup..." The Doctor sighed as Rose left the medical bay. "Yup… Life is good." He rolled onto his side and drifted back to sleep, this time knowing he was safe. He was home.

…

_A couple of weeks later_

Claire adjusted the focus on her microscope, analysing samples. Just normal _human_ samples. All evidence of The Doctor ever having been there was gone... All evidence of her ever having a loving relationship with David was gone too. He had completely moved out and wanted no contact with her. And in hindsight, who could blame him. One day she'd ask David for his forgiveness... But that day was still a long way off.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone. She answered after a couple of rings. "Claire Bailey."

"Doctor Bailey, my name is Yvonne Hartman. We should talk..."

_Fin_

Thank you so much to everyone for their comments and encouragement. I really appreciate it. All feedback gratefully received!


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